Abstract
Crop efficiencies associated with intercepted radiation, conversion into biomass and allocation to edible organs are essential for yield improvement strategies that would enhance genetic properties to maximize carbon gain without increasing crop inputs. The production of 20 potato landraces—never studied before—was analyzed for radiation interception (), conversion () and partitioning () efficiencies. Additionally, other physiological traits related to senescence delay (normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI)), tuberization precocity (), photosynthetic performance and dry tuber yield per plant (TY) were also assessed. Vegetation reflectance was remotely acquired and the efficiencies estimated through a process-based model parameterized by a time-series of airborne imageries. The combination of and , closely associated with an early tuber maturity and a NDVI explained 39% of the variability grouping the most productive genotypes. TY was closely correlated to senescence delay (r = 0.74), indicating the usefulness of remote sensing methods for potato yield diversity characterization. About 89% of TY was explained by the first three principal components, associated mainly to , and , respectively. When comparing potato with other major crops, its is very close to the theoretical maximum. These findings suggest that there is room for improving and to enhance potato production.
Highlights
The predicted population of nine billion people by 2050 will require an increase in food production by at least 70%, under unfavorable environmental conditions [1]
The average tuber yield per plant (TY) values ranged from 115 ± 12.6 to 665 ± 63.9 g plant−1, in which the highest value corresponded to CIP 703520
Average values of TY for genotypes grouped by ploidy were 225.3 ± 26.1, 268.0 ± 29.7 and 372.5 ± 38.1 g plant−1 for 2×, 3× and 4× ploidy, respectively
Summary
The predicted population of nine billion people by 2050 will require an increase in food production by at least 70%, under unfavorable environmental conditions [1]. A scope for future improvement considers that the physiological bases, together with genetic engineering efforts [3] could help increasing the potential yield of crops. These bases are regulated by genetically determined properties, intrinsic of each variety [4], and the available radiation energy, which depends on the site and year [5]. Notwithstanding, accounting for yield variation in terms of crop growth and development is complex, since additional external factors can influence plant physiological processes, their interrelations as well as their dependence on the plant genotypic effect, which are difficult to measure under field conditions [7]
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